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Spanish Paella

Classic Spanish paella made with calasparra rice, smoky chorizo, tender chicken and prawns. Garnished with lemon wedges and chopped parsley. An easy dinner recipe that’ll take you less than an hour to prepare and the whole family will love!

I already mentioned how much I love Spanish food when I shared this patatas bravas recipe. I have many favourite cuisines and Spanish is definitely up there at the top. I have lots of dishes inspired by travels to Spain that I would love to share with you. But today, here is my favourite paella recipe.

Paella is my favourite dish to serve whenever I have family or friends coming over for dinner because it’s easy to make and serves a lot of people. It makes a brilliant hearty main meal during the winter and also a gorgeous al fresco dinner during the summer months partnered with a glass of wine.

The process of making paella is much more simple than you would think. When the paella is finished cooking there is a layer of toasted rice at the bottom of the pan, this is known as socarrat in Spain and is a delicacy. So don’t worry if you think the rice has stuck to your pan, it’s a sign of a good paella!

This recipe is packed with flavour and once you have your prep done it’ll only take you just a little over 30 minutes to have this paella on your table ready to devour.

I’ve made many paellas but this recipe is our favourite so far. My sister, who is my biggest food critic, declared this the best paella I’ve made to date. So I definitely knew this recipe was blog-worthy!

Method:

Gently heat the oil in a large deep saucepan, frying pan or traditional 30cm paella pan. Sauté the diced onion and pepper for a few minutes until soft. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute or so until fragrant.

Add the chicken, season with salt and pepper and add a couple of pinches of paprika. Cook until it’s starting to brown on the outside. Now add the chorizo continue to cook for another a few minutes until it’s starting to get crispy. Add a generous pinch of saffron to the hot stock. Finally, add the rice to the pan along with the stock and the butter. Leave to simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Don’t stir.

Now cover the pan with a lid and continue to cook for a further 15 minutes or until all the stock has been absorbed and the rice is tender, but slightly al dente. If you rice isn’t fully cooked, add more stock and continue to simmer until it’s at your preferred texture.

When the paella is near enough ready, in a separate pan gently cook the prawns and peas until the prawns have turned pink in colour and the peas are fully defrosted. Once cooked, add the prawns and peas to the paella pan and stir to combine. Continue to cook the paella until it’s piping hot through.

Serve immediately and garnish with lemon wedges and chopped parsley if you desire.

Recipe Notes:

As noted beside the ingredients list, you can add less chorizo and add more prawns. You could also add any other seafood like clams or mussels.

I LOVE Spanish food too, Jessica… well really I love all types of food. So..? Paella is a seriously delicious dish and yours looks FABULOUS! Chalk FULL of goodness! Totally drooling over here! I could eat that whole pan in record time! Cheers, girlie! 🙂